Norwalk Museum closed a month early to 'secure collection and save money'

By ROBERT KOCHHour Staff Writer

Published 2:01 pm, Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Photo: 2012 The Hour Newspapers

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Hour Photo/ Alex von Kleydorff. The Norwalk Museum building in SoNo

Hour Photo/ Alex von Kleydorff. The Norwalk Museum building in SoNo

Photo: 2012 The Hour Newspapers

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Hour Photo/ Alex von Kleydorff. Sign on the door of the Norwalk Museum

Hour Photo/ Alex von Kleydorff. Sign on the door of the Norwalk Museum

Photo: 2012 The Hour Newspapers

Norwalk Museum closed a month early to 'secure collection and save money'

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NORWALK -- City officials closed The Norwalk Museum at 41 North Main St. on Wednesday morning, roughly a month ahead of the date when funding for its operations will expire.

Mayor Richard A. Moccia said closing the museum before June 30 -- the end of the current fiscal year -- will allow the city to better secure the museum's collections and also save the city money.

"We just decided that the sooner we could do it to secure everything and save some money (the better)," Moccia said. "It saves us some money, it lets us move forward, it will help us in our negotiations with the landlord."

Moccia said city officials on Wednesday changed the locks and security code for the building. Peter A. Bondi, Norwalk Historical Commission chairman, will be given a key as will Alan Lo, the city's building and facilities manager, he added.

Earlier this month, the Board of Estimate and Taxation approved a 2012-13 operating budget which defunds operation of the museum effective July 1. Officials concluded that visitor numbers -- several thousand people a year -- did not justify the roughly $12,000 in rent which the city pays for the space.

An ad-hoc panel formed by Moccia is exploring where to store and ultimately redisplay museum's collections, as the city works with the landlord of 41 North Main St. to secure a short-term lease to house the collections as a plan is developed.

The closing faced strong opposition from Bondi and representatives of the historical community in Norwalk and elsewhere, who argued that the city could not close the museum and properly relocate its collections by July 1.

The early closure caught Bondi and museum Curator Susan Gunn Bromley off guard.

"By closing the museum it's a violation of public trust," Bondi said. "All these people who donated and loaned items to the museum, they expected it to be open to the public."

Gunn Bromley, museum curator since July 2000, said she was called to City Hall on Wednesday morning by the city's director of personnel and labor relations and notified in writing that she was "terminated from your position as museum curator for the city of Norwalk due to a lack of funding for the position," and to return all museum keys and other city property.

"This doesn't make sense to me. In February, it said I would be terminated June 30," Gunn Bromley said. "What happened between February and (Wednesday) that all of a sudden they're terminating me six weeks earlier?"

H. James Haselkamp, Jr., the city's director of personnel and labor relations, said Gunn Bromley was laid off early because of a "significant payout" due to her in vacation, sick time and severance. He said the payout after 11 years employment with the city is roughly $20,000. Haselkamp said Gunn Bromley now must decide whether to retire.

"The final decision on whether she's going to elect to retire is up to her, and I have given her some time to consider that," Haselkamp said. "She gets the payout whether she's retired or laid off (and) retiree medical insurance if she retires. Otherwise, she'd have to pay insurance on her own."

On Tuesday night, Ralph C. Bloom, city historian and former curator, advised members of the Norwalk Museum Restructuring Committee to concern themselves with safely storing the museum's collections and address later where to redisplay them.